The federal Liberals can’t possibly win the cash-for-access war of attrition in which they’ve been embroiled for weeks and to which they seem grimly committed. The only question is how soon they’ll concede -- and how severe a drubbing they’ll sustain in the interim.

Creating art always involves taking a risk. Art can be a platform to challenge and provoke. It can expose corruption or celebrate achievement. Art can connect audiences emotionally to a past that should not be forgotten. Or it can fall flat on its face.

This month, the University of Toronto undertook what should be the norm in all academic environments: It held a debate on gender identity and gender expression in Canadian legislation, and, more specifically, whether or not professors, or any citizen for that matter, should be compelled to use made-up, gender-neutral pronouns.

You'd think, given the volume of chatter in the House of Commons over the past decade, that RCAF pilots -- one of whom died Monday, tragically, in a training accident in Cold Lake, Alta. -- would be flying X-wing fighters out of Star Wars by now, and not a ragtag fleet of 1980s-vintage refurbs that were new when many members of the current Parliament were children.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau can survive, and possibly even thrive, in the Trumpocalypse. But he’ll have to learn to channel more Stephen Harper. Yes, that’s right — Harper as muse. It has come to this.